With the right frame of mind, you can find a little bit of heaven at the House of Flavors.

This is what my dear Andrea and I did Sunday afternoon on our way back from a four-day getaway to nirvana, commonly known as Northern Michigan. It was 3 p.m., too late for lunch and certainly too late for ice cream. But what the heck, it was a getaway in mid-summer and we could do what we liked, right?

So House of Flavors it was. This was the Manistee version of the Ludington Sixties-style diner and dairy run since 1948 by the Bob Neal family. Thousands of you have been there, probably on vacations with your kids. So have I, to both restaurants, and I wasn’t going to let the absence of my kids stop me this time.

Three wonderful things happened there: 1) We were served by a likable young man, 16 or so, who could have stepped right out of a “My Three Sons” episode; 2) I wolfed down a turkey reuben and a Mackinac Island Fudge cone; 3) we looked for familiar artists on the old record albums plastered to the ceiling. I found Wayne Newton and Bert Kaempfert, among others.

This all came about because of what I call a vacation frame of mind – a blessing we in Michigan enjoy in great abundance.

The vacation frame of mind is a way of looking at the world that is at once easier and more vivid than the everyday view of life. You see things more clearly and appreciate them more deeply, and worry less about what you’re doing at any moment. If it’s reading on the beach, fine. If it’s sleeping till 9 a.m., also fine. Walking a mile for pizza: completely fine.

Since many people are having this experience at this very moment, let’s take another moment to consider the vacation frame of mind. Because if you are reading this column, you probably aren’t on vacation and wish you were. I would like to propose that this frame of mind – some of it, anyhow – can be brought into everyday life.

No, really. If we could just learn to think a little more like being on vacation when we’re firing up search engines at work, each day could be a little less stressful and a bit more beautiful. I think.

Let’s look at a few attributes of the vacation frame of mind that can be transferred to normal life:

Paying attention to beauty. When you’re on a lovely inland lake as Andrea and I were, you wait for the sunset on a clear day. On this particular lake, which I will not name because I want it all to myself and just the others who already know about it, the wait is rewarded with a soft intake of breath and, perhaps, a silent prayer of thanks. But a similar daily glory is often available in Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo if you’ll just get off your darn cell phone, walk a few blocks and simply look at it.

Slowing down time. Time moves slower and days are longer on vacation. This is because we’re usually doing fewer things that make time zip by, and also looking less often at our time-keepers. If you’re mindful enough you can make time stop altogether. I did this briefly on the porch of our B&B, feeling the kissing breeze and listening to the bicycles riding by. This, too, can be done from the comfort of your own home. It just requires intention, setting aside the fierce urgency of now and, again, ditching the darn cell phone.

Being open to whim. Here we’re back to the House of Flavors. Want to have a big lunch with ice cream at 3 p.m.? Why not? Well there are a lot of good reasons why not in daily life, like the report being due at 5 p.m. Business doesn’t stop just because it’s summer. But ducking out for a cone when normally you’d be eating at your desk? That is totally doable.

Looking for connection. This is the most important aspect of the vacation mindset. When you meet new people, say on an airplane or a hotel breakfast room, you’re probably not going to bring up the Travyon Martin verdict. No, you look for ways to connect. Where are you from? Oh really? I know a guy who grew up there and worked at the Hefty Burger. That’s your brother-in-law? No way!
Call me crazy, but I think if we always looked for connection, life would be a little better. We’d get to know what we have in common first, which would make the differences more bearable.